District 9510 is about to embark on a project to work towards the elimination of Malaria in the Solomon Islands.
Globally, each year, more than 400,000 people die of malaria – a preventable and treatable disease. An estimated two thirds of deaths are among children under the age of five. By the end of this calendar year D9510, working in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Honiara and the Solomon Islands National Malaria Control Programme, will conduct a pilot project to increase household active case detection (ACD) in high transmission areas of Honiara. Thank you to the partners who are working on the project, these are: Dr. Kevin Palmer, RAM PhD graduate Dr. Edgar Pollard, RAM Solomon Islands Adam Bartlett, and National RAM Australia members.
The selected area of high transmission is along the Mataniko river in Honiara (see map below). The overall objective is to reduce malaria by increasing the diagnosis and treatment of malaria cases as part of the country’s malaria control strategy. Surveillance Teams will be established. Based at the Mataniko Clinic, the Teams will visit every household in defined areas. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) will be conducted for people who are showing symptoms of a fever. Anti-malaria medications will be given to positive cases and they will be followed up. A total of 10,000 persons in 1500 households will be served by the Surveillance Team.
Cherilyn Fleming, the Central Region Supervisor, is available to speak to your club on RAM and the Solomon Islands project, and long distance travel is no problem. She is prepared to visit every part of the District! Please contact her at ram.central@rawcs.org.au.